“I Will Never Stop Missing My Son”

With the news of Osama Bin Laden’s (OBL) death, I thought immediately of Alice Hoagland. Alice is Mark Bingham’s mother. Mark was one of the heroes on Flight 93 which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11. He helped stop the flight from crashing into its intended target.

Since losing Mark, Alice has become an advocate for all the things Mark was concerned about, rugby, LGBT issues and now air safety. Alice lives here in Silicon Valley and has graced the local community with her energy, insights and most of all her compassion for many years now. We are so lucky to have her among us but, truthfully, I wish we had never met. Then Mark would be alive.

I reached her last night after hear the news of the death of OBL. She was quite breathless and headed out the door to do tv interviews. Alice is one of the most effervescent people I know and last night that quality was on full display.

“Gloria, you heard the news didn’t you? Isn’t it wonderful? Finally!”

Today when we talked she had two important things to tell me. When I asked if this brought her any closure she said,

“Yes, I feel like I finally have closure.”

“I didn’t think we would ever catch him. I have always thought we would find his body in some way decomposed. I didn’t think we would get him like this with a military operation.”

“While I don’t fully agree with either (former) President Bush or President Obama, I am glad the promise that was made to the 9/11 families was kept. We would get closure.”